--- title: 10 Questions for Bill O'Reilly | TIME description: Bill O'Reilly, opinionated commentator, author and host of one of cable television’s highest-rated news programs, will now answer your questions canonical: https://time.com/video/9p506uTV/ og:title: 10 Questions for Bill O'Reilly og:description: Bill O'Reilly, opinionated commentator, author and host of one of cable television’s highest-rated news programs, will now answer your questions og:url: https://time.com/video/9p506uTV/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/9p506uTV/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 10 Questions for Bill O'Reilly twitter:description: Bill O'Reilly, opinionated commentator, author and host of one of cable television’s highest-rated news programs, will now answer your questions twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/9p506uTV/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # 10 Questions for Bill O'Reilly > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: 10 Questions for Bill O'Reilly [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions for Bill O'Reilly](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9p506uTV.m3u8) (8:05)  _Published 2008-09-12. Bill O'Reilly, opinionated commentator, author and host of one of cable television’s highest-rated news programs, will now answer your questions_ --- Jul 27, 2023 1:00 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Bill O'Reilly Is Out at Fox News Amid Sexual Harassment Accusations](/video/fKv8fLIP/) ### Bill O'Reilly Is Out at Fox News Amid Sexual Harassment Accusations [Bill O'Reilly Protest Outside Fox News Headquarters in NYC](/video/yGJqFfLl/) ### Bill O'Reilly Protest Outside Fox News Headquarters in NYC [Late-Night Highlight: Bill O'Reilly Defends Brian Williams Amid Fabrication Claims](/video/Uq53758C/) ### Late-Night Highlight: Bill O'Reilly Defends Brian Williams Amid Fabrication Claims --- ## Transcript >> I'm Josh Tyrangiel, managing editor of TIME. com. I recently sat down with Bill O'Reilly, author of the forthcoming memoir, " A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity ," and host of the never- dull Fox News commentary show, " The O'Reilly Factor ," to post questions submitted by TIME. com readers. Do you think it's okay to say shut up to someone you're interviewing? >> I've said shut up to people six times in 12 years and they all deserved it. They were either bloviating, filibustering, or lying. >> Uh- huh. >> Twelve years on the air, six times I've said it, and this is a big far- left mantra. >> You always say shut up. Correct? >> These people never watch the show. They don't know who I am. They're zombies, neither they're living internet. And so, I gotta put up with this, but that's what's going on. >> Have you ever changed your mind on an issue as a result of an interview you've done? And if so, what is one example? >> Well, I changed my mind on issues not because of one interview but because the data rolls in. For example, the Iraq war, in the beginning, I supported the Iraq war. I felt it was necessary to remove Saddam Hussein, but as the data rolled in and with no WMDs and his power was not what the United States thought it was, I said, " Is this the right battlefield ?" And then when we saw the chaos ensue, the answer was no. So, in the beginning, I supported the war, and then as the data rolled in, I changed my mind. But do I change my mind because I see one magical interview person? No. But they can raise questions that I'll then research. If somebody impresses me and brings in something that I hadn't thought about, I, number one, will credit that person on the air. I always do. That's a good point or I didn't know that. And number two, then I'll think about it more and if I change my mind, I'll tell the audience. >> Did your interview with Barack Obama has changed your opinion of him or sway your opinion of him? >> I learned something about him. I don't endorse candidates and I don't tell people who to vote for, but I learned something about him that he's a sincere man and that he's a tough guy. You know, he comes across as very affable and, you know, relaxed, [ unk ] thing in public ,-- >> Uh- huh. >> but he's a tough, determined, driven man. That's what I learned about him, sitting-- like I'm sitting with you, that I would never have known. Now, he could be the greatest guy? I don't know him. I don't hang with him. I don't know. I assume he is. I give him the benefit of the doubt. But that determination that I saw-- >> Uh- huh. >> was probably the main lesson I learned about him. His policy is what he says it is. He is no phony. >> Uh- huh. >> He's telling you, " I'm gonna set up a big government apparatus, I'm gonna redistribute income, and I'm gonna be more use of soft power than hard power abroad. So, he's-- What he says is what he believes. >> Everyone else calls you a conservative, but you classify yourself as independent. Why? >> Only the left- wing media calls me conservative, because compared to them, I am. I hold some conservative traditional decisions, absolutely, but I hold liberal positions as well. They're never sided. Now, when I go out on the street, the real conservatives look at me like a scant. How come you're not attacking Obama? How come you do believe in global warming? How come this? How come that? But that's never picked up by the left- wing media. So, the media tries to marginalize me who they don't like because I watch them as kind of conservative fringe player, but the numbers that we have and the research shows that many independent and liberal people watch us belie that. >> Give me an example of things where you think there's not clarity about your positions, but you are very clear that may swing left or right. >> Well, I'm an environmentalist and always have been, and I want a clean America and I want the government to impose very strict standards on corporations so they don't pollute the atmosphere as anti- oil company as they get. If anybody doesn't know that, they're lying. I mean, I pound those people 'cause I know the game they're playing. Manipulate, manipulate, manipulate. And I don't believe that's good for America. They could make an enormous amount of money and not gauche, but as soon as the speculators drive it up, bang, they're on board. So, those are just two examples where it's clear what I'm doing and saying, but it's not acknowledged by the left because to do that, they would have to take the conservative label off, which they don't want to do. >> On the subject of sort of labels on the media, do you think there's an inherent contradiction in your television shows, advertisements being number one in the ratings? Why you do frequently claim to be outside of the media? How successful does a commentary program need to be to be a part of the media? >> Well, I'm a part of the media. I'm just not a part of the corrupt media. There's a big difference. We do an honest program. We don't show for anybody. We watch all the powerful. If we do something wrong, we point it out. And that's that. So, I don't like people saying that this is all the news that's fit to print. I want, you know, on the masthead. And then, they're skewing all of their hard news report in left. That's ridiculous. If you're gonna do that, become a magazine, not a newspaper. It's the same thing with television. I'm a commentator, I can say whatever I wanna say. All right. And I am upfront about saying it. But I don't get hard news from people who do that. Our hard news people at Fox are down the line. They report both sides of the story. >> So, what's an example of corrupt media? >> A corrupt media is basically telling people an untruth, whether it's about Bill O'Reilly or President Bush or Barack Obama or whoever it is. A corrupt media is saying, " Obama is a Muslim ." >> Uh- huh. >> No, he's not. If you say yes, you're corrupt, you're lying. A corrupt media is saying that Governor Palin is unqualified. Hold it. A commentator can say that, but not a hard news reporter. You report what the woman did and let the audience decide. But when you read this kind of stuff now, in our media today, the hard news and the commentary blended-- >> Uh- huh. >> and that's wrong and it's corrupt. >> Giving your defense of Sarah Palin's judgment on Bristol Palin, do you take back what you said about Jamie Lynn Spears' pregnancy that her parents were to blame? >> Now, you got this from Media Matters, number one. That's where you got this because that's where it's coming from. Media Matters is the smear factory and that question is beneath you. If you had done your own research, Josh,-- and I'm scolding you now, okay,-- you would have seen that when I talked about the Spears parents, it was supervision of their children which is well documented that they don't supervise them. Nothing to do with anything other than parental supervision. >> Uh- huh. >> There's no evidence that the Palin family did not supervise their daughter. Media Matters' smear factory takes it out of context as they do every single day, spits it out to Jon Stewart and the other zombie left- wingers and they try to embarrass me. >> Now, to be fair, I think it's clear that Jamie Lynn Spears could have been better supervised, but we don't necessarily know that much about the supervision of the Palin family. We were presuming the best. Is it fair still? I mean, you-- I believe you called the Spears family pinheads. >> I said the parents were pinheads-- >> Right. >> 'cause they didn't supervise their young daughters. Standby that remark. >> But would you say that you are at least, at this point, giving the Palins the benefit of the doubt based on that fact. >> Absolutely, giving them the benefit of the doubt. >> Wow. And would you-- >> And I would have given the Spears the benefit of the doubt if there wasn't 17, 000 interviews by the parents saying, " We don't know what our daughters are doing. We think they're old enough to decide for themselves ." I resent Media Matters and the other smear machines on the left doing this dishonest crap and the mainstream media picking it up. I think that's a good example of corruption. >> If one day, your story was to be made into a movie, who would you want to play you? >> You know, Clint Eastwood is 78, but maybe, at 52, Clint would have been the guy, absolutely would have been the guy. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Questions for Bill O'Reilly","description":"Bill O'Reilly, opinionated commentator, author and host of one of cable television’s highest-rated news programs, will now answer your questions","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/9p506uTV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2008-09-12T00:16:28.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9p506uTV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/9p506uTV/","duration":"PT8M5S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/9p506uTV/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```